"A Man Must Serve Actively to Be Proud"…Flood of Criticism Over Military Manpower Administration Promotional Video

The Military Manpower Administration's promotional video sparked controversy.
[Photo by Ministry of National Defense YouTube channel capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] Netizens raised their voices in criticism after a statement such as "You have to complete active military service to be considered a man" appeared in a promotional video by the Military Manpower Administration.

On the 5th, a video titled 'Stories of Military Life Told by Friends' was uploaded on the official YouTube channel of the Military Manpower Administration. This video was produced to promote the so-called 'Super Himchani Project' system, which supports the active enlistment of social service agents, and features a setting where a soldier on leave meets with friends to talk about military life.

In the video, a man portrayed as being on leave said, "I applied for the Super Himchani system because I felt my personality would only allow it if I completed active duty," adding, "That's why I lost weight and enlisted as an active-duty soldier." Another man responded, "With your personality, you have to complete military service to confidently go around saying you're a man." They exchanged dialogue including, "We all have to go to the military anyway," and "If that's the case, I want to go properly."

However, netizens who saw the video reacted critically to its content. Through comments, they expressed opinions such as, "Is this really an official video made by the Military Manpower Administration?", "No matter how much it's an advertisement, it only seems like a message ignoring the pledge," and "The frame that only active-duty soldiers are true men is outdated."

Meanwhile, as of 3:30 PM on the 13th, the video had recorded about 44,000 views and received over 4,700 comments. While the video only received 75 'likes,' the number of 'dislikes' exceeded 10,000.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.